577 Snyder reamer question/query

I am asking this for a friend of mine that is putting together a rifle.

577 Snyder is the caliber.

He is in need of a reamer to chamber the barrel. His gunsmith had a lead on a reamer for rent, but that guy that "had" the reamer has "fell off the earth" lately.

He is looking for a reamer to borrow, rent, or buy at a reasonable price.

If you would have any information on one, please call him at: (701) 465-seven2zero9 or you can email him at: kerdman@gondtc.com

Thank you for any and all information on this reamer!!!

Use a small boring bar is what I do for any large chamber ...smallest Ive done with a boring bar is rear part of a 303,but the boring bar was a special a friend made to bore out motorcycle valve guides,so it was small.

I don't know what he is wanting, but the .577 Snider originally didn't actually have a chamber as we now know them. They were conversions from muzzle loaders and the bullet was undersized, and was made like the Minnie Ball expanding into the rifling. Some folks these days have made larger near bore sized bullet molds that throw solid based bullets so the bullet doesn't have to expand like a skirt on a Minnie Ball, but the lead does upset with the pressure and engage the riflings. This works best in later models that had the 5 groove barrels and were not conversions, but were purpose made weapons. They had stronger breech block mechanisms and supposedly better steel. My original 1875 carbine with 5 grooves has basically a straight wall from the "chamber" to the riflings.

There were/are no standards for the .577 Snider so any given reamer is not likely to match your dies.

If you have time and a lathe just design your own cartridge to match your own dies. Then bore the chamber with a little boring bar to match your loading dies.

If you use Lee dies they must match your barrel and bore dimensions. You will still need to bore a chamber to match the loading dies.

If the Lee dies do not match the barrel blank you will have to modify the Lee dies or make your own dies from scratch.


Another path is buy the barrel and then get a matching set of dies from CH. You will still need to bore the chamber to match all this stuff up.